Police on Wednesday said skeletal remains discovered in a wooded area off Oxoboxo Dam Road in Montville earlier this week belong to a Norwich woman who has been missing for more than five years.

The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed Wednesday afternoon the remains were of Erika Cirioni, who was last seen on Dec. 31, 2006. She was 26.

Carol Cirioni, Erika’s mother, received a knock at her door on Wednesday evening. Two Norwich police detectives delivered the news, telling her that her daughter had been identified through dental records.

“I knew this day would come eventually,” Cirioni said. “I’m just numb. It’s like a bomb dropped on my head.”

Carol Cirioni was surrounded by family at her Norwich home Wednesday evening — an emotional gathering that included Erika Cirioni’s two sisters and two sons.

“Unfortunately, this was expected. That doesn’t make it any easier,” her sister Lisa said.

The news comes just a day after Carol Cirioni and other family were asked by Norwich police for medical and dental records, along with DNA samples, to aid in the identification.

Carol Cirioni broke the news to her grandsons Destin, 10, and Brandon, 15. They have been holding out hope through the years that their mother was still alive.

“They’re taking it hard,” she said. “I told (Destin), she’s in heaven now with your grandfather and uncle. They’re taking care of her. She’s in a better place where no one can hurt her.”

Erika Cirioni was first reported missing on Jan. 3, 2007 — touching off an investigation that became a priority for regional and state investigators. Police have dug up the grounds of the former Norwich Hospital, among other places, as part of the investigation.

Cirioni was walking from her home on Division Street to a New Year’s Eve celebration in downtown Norwich at the time of her disappearance.

In 2009, the chief state attorney’s office launched a cold case unit that put Cirioni’s disappearance among its high-priority cases.

And in November 2010, Cirioni was featured on a deck of playing cards distributed to inmates in state prisons in an effort to solve Connecticut cold cases.

Carol Cirioni said there is closure in one sense, but said there’s “a great big question that is still out there.

“I want whoever did this to hang. I believe in an eye for an eye,” she said. “She was no angel, but she didn’t deserve to be buried out there like an animal. She was my baby.”

Norwich police Capt. Patrick Daley said recently that Cirioni’s case remained “active and open” in the department.

“The case has not been forgotten, nor will it be,” he said in January. Norwich police on Tuesday declined to comment.

Page 2 of 2 - State police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said state police will assist Norwich police in the ongoing investigation as needed.